Month: August 2013

Bradley Manning has let it be known that he wants to be now known as a ‘she’ and she wants to be referred to as ‘Chelsea.’ I’ve debated how to respond to her recent revelation. I am going to withhold my opinion until a time in which I can respectfully express my opinion while considering the true matter of transgenderism. I’m not in a place to say whether Chelsea Manning is transgender. I’m not in a place to deny her what she truly believes she feels. Regardless of whether I think she’s guilty or innocent, a heroine, or a treasonist, I’m not in her head. Who you are as an individual is inside of you.

I remember learning the golden rule as a child. I’ve carried the golden rule into adulthood, and I still carry that rule as my own mantra. You treat others as you want to be treated. You can treat me as the worst person on this Earth, but I will treat you with the utmost respect, because that’s how I want to be treated. I hold Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” to heart. The only difference is I will replace ‘the color of their skin’ with, “what makes you different from me.” Being transgender doesn’t define Chelsea Manning’s character. What defines her character is what she did.

In a world when we need to find resolutions to bullying, in a world when we need to let people know bullying isn’t “cool,” we have FOX News. I don’t like to harp on FOX News, because being gay already comes with the stigma of being a liberal, and automatically dismissing that channel. People will say I’m being harsh towards FOX News, because I’m gay. For those that think that, I invite you to follow me as I talk about what I feel about Chelsea Manning’s transition, and what I have to say about the midterm elections and the elections of 2016. I’ll defy your expectations. I’m not cutting FOX News down simply because I’m gay. I’m being critical about FOX News, because they’re promoting bullying. They can think whatever they want about homosexuality and transgenderism. I might have a problem with what they think, and I might call them on it. This isn’t a matter of what they think, but a matter of their bullying. In a recent advertisement for their next segment after a commercial break, FOX and Friends made a blunder. They chose to play Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)” while showing a picture of Pfc. Bradley Manning on the left and an unflattering photo of Chelsea Manning on the right.

Their choice of music doesn’t just demean Chelsea Manning, but it denigrates those that identify as transgender. Instead of choosing to talk about a story in which they likely disagreed with, they chose to make fun of those that identify as transgender. As the voice of the conservative movement, they should be ashamed of themselves. FOX News is promoting bullying when they should be an upstanding news agency discussing the news.

I debated for the last week or so about how I wanted to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington. I didn’t want to make it too political, but I didn’t want us to think we can’t still be motivated by his words as people in the gay community. I have chosen to post his speech in it’s entirety. I don’t want to take away from the message he made that day, but I want anyone, regardless of their own struggle will think of the inspiration that came from this speech, and the inspiration that was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I know a lot of people are using the hashtag #DreamDay on Twitter, so I’ll leave you with what my dream is. I dream of a day when people won’t be judged by who they love, but by the way they love.

“I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Aug 28, 1963

It is by no means a secret that the “Fair and Balanced” network of FOX News is only fair and balanced towards the Republican party and that MSNBC’s motto of “Lean Forward” should read more like “Lean Left.” Both networks are the cheerleading branch of their respective parties and they aren’t exactly known for being unbiased. Last Friday, the Republican National Committee (RNC) headed by Reince Priebus unanimously voted to stop NBC News and CNN from hosting any presidential debates in 2016.

For those that are unaware, Reince Priebus went on a media blitz over the last few weeks to let it be known that the RNC would be voting to admonish CNN and NBC News for their planned documentaries portraying the political life of former Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton. While I understand the Republican Party’s discomfort towards two media outlets discussing the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the current presumptive nominee for the 2016 democratic presidential nominee, I cannot ignore the measures the Republican Party has taken to silence those supporting these documentaries.

Reince Priebus, RNC Chairman

The party’s unanimous vote to ban CNN and NBC News from hosting Republican presidential debates in 2016 isn’t a matter of saying, “We don’t support CNN and NBC Entertainment broadcasting these pieces.” It boils down to the fact that the Republican Party is pressuring two organizations into dismantling their proposed documentaries. I want to emphasize that these proposed programs have not had scripts put together yet, NBC News and NBC Entertainment are two different entities, and the RNC has no idea how the documentaries would portray Clinton. People can argue the documentaries would be biased towards Hillary Rodham Clinton, but at this early stage it’s not known how she would be portrayed. If CNN and NBC Entertainment cave to Reince Priebus’s call to disband these proposed documentaries, they are empowering both major political parties to begin controlling what television networks write and produce. I’m not some crazy conspiracy theorist that thinks this call for a boycott of CNN and NBC News is going to create censorship, I’m simply saying it will empower political parties to take steps to pressure others to only say party endorsed views.

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Do you know the saying, “Call a spade a spade?” Well, I staunchly believe in that saying. Reince Priebus and the Republican National Committee are hypocrites. While Priebus was on his media blitz drumming up support for this proposed CNN and NBC News boycott, he completely ignored the fact that FOX was planning to produce the NBC Entertainment’s miniseries. Not once did Preibus put pressure on FOX to discontinue their support for the miniseries. Why was it OK for FOX to be involved, but not CNN and NBC? It must be because FOX News portrays the Republican Party in the way Priebus and his cronies want them to be. FOX recently announced they are discontinuing their production of the proposed miniseries. This announcement came after it surfaced that FOX was helping in the productions.

I understand the RNC’s worry and anger over these proposed documentaries. If I was a member of the RNC, I would be speaking out against the CNN documentary and NBC Entertainment miniseries, but I would not be taking votes to silence two news agencies. I don’t believe in censorship in most circumstances. If the Republican Party wants to rebrand themselves as being in touch with the general American public, they must accept dissenting opinions and counter those opinions with their own opinions and their own facts. They cannot shut it down. Their recent vote will only show how they are out of touch with the American public. If they continue down this path, it won’t bode well for them in 2014 or 2016. The Republican Party must accept dissenting opinions.

The now 19-year-old high school senior that had the gay community rallying around her after she was arrested for allegedly having sex with an underage female is back in the headlines today. Kaitlyn Hunt was released on bond a few months ago when her case hit the national stage and there was a major outcry about some perceived injustice her case presented. When Hunt was released from police custody, she was given certain restrictions that are typical of a defendant being prosecuted for a crime against another individual. Don’t contact the victim.

It seems as though Ms. Hunt and her mother could not abide by these guidelines and Kaitlyn now stands accused of not only contacting her underage victim, but she sent sexually explicit photos of herself to the young female. She will remain in jail until she will be sent before a judge, where the judge will determine whether she deserves to be freed again.

It seems the media isn’t being as biased towards her this time around and they just presented the facts of her rearrest instead of crying for yet another injustice against a gay person.

Will Kaitlyn Hunt yet again attempt to use the ignorance card and say she didn’t know its illegal to send sexually explicit photos to a minor? Will she say she had no idea she wasn’t allowed to meet with her victim? Will the gay community discontinue their support for this woman? Support she never should have been given in the first place, might I add.

It’s clear Kaitlyn Hunt has not learned her lesson from being arrested the first time. She continues to contact the minor and has now allegedly sent sexually explicit photos to someone that is under 18. The judge on Friday needs to do one of two things – 1. Revoke her bond or 2. Raise the bond. If there is evidence to support Hunt sent inappropriate photos to a minor, she ought to be charged with that crime as well.

I just hope the gay community distances themselves from Kaitlyn Hunt as they should have done in the first place.

This is just a quick update to let everyone know that I just created a new Facebook page that you can like to stay up-to-date with this blog, as well as important issues involving the gay community. My mission statement for this blog is: “the politically inspired musings about politics, news/current events and social issues impacting the LGBT community.” The things I post won’t always be a link to my blog, but important videos, quotes, other blogs of news articles and whatever else is impertinent to the gay community. It also creates another avenue for you to express your own opinions and suggestions for this blog! I encourage an open dialogue and would love to hear from all of you. I hope you will “Like” The Political Queer to join me on this journey!

As I hear about the barbaric attacks and see the disturbing photos that are surfacing in the newly minted, “Gays Not Welcome,” country of Russia, I can’t help but to think about the Holocaust and the millions of innocent victims, including gay people that were tortured and murdered because they didn’t fit into the mold Hitler had set out to create.

Over 70 years after the Holocaust was conceived to create a “perfect society,” Russian President Vladimir Putin has been pushing through his own “perfect society” legislation that practically makes even uttering the word “gay” illegal. I can’t fathom the pain and torture the LGBT community in Russia now experiences. Anti-gay citizens in Russia are using Vladimir Putin’s push for treating gay citizens as less than human as an excuse to brutally attack them. As gays and lesbians are being brutally beaten, they find themselves the ones that are being arrested instead of the perpetrators that attacked them because of Putin’s ant-gay laws.

As Russia begins its reversion back to the Soviet Union by passing draconian laws and straining international relations, the International Olympic Committee is moving in to oversee the preparations of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. In just over seven months, Olympians from around the world will be closing in on Sochi, Russia to compete in the Olympics that begin on February 7, 2014. As the beginning of the Olympics looms, LGBT advocates are urging athletes, countries and people to boycott the Olympics. I don’t believe this is the action we should take. Boycotts are notoriously unsuccessful and will only divert attention from homosexuality in Russia instead of embracing the Russian LGBT community.

Olympic speed skater, Blake Skjellerup recently talked about the proposed boycott in an interview with CNN. He said that visibility will be key to bringing awareness to the conditions in Russia. Skjellerup goes on to say that his presence alone as an openly gay athelete (and the presence of other gay athletes and their sympathizers) can make a strong statement to the Russian government, and to those that are suffering the most under these archaic laws. Today is a time when the LGBT community in Russia must see we are here with them and will stand with them in solidarity. Performing at the Olympics is the biggest way we can show Russians that we are here with them and will not be deterred because of Russia’s irrational fear of the LGBT community.

In order to raise awareness to the LGBT struggle in Russia, Olympians ought to take a page out of one of the most visible protests in Olympic history. As Americans were fighting for equality for African-Americans, three men stood for human rights during the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. African-American track and field runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos won first and third place in their competitions. During the awards ceremony, these Smith, Carlos and Australian silver medalist Peter Norman wore human rights badges to the podium. While the Star Spangled Banner was being played, Tommie and John put their heads down and a fist in the air. Carlos and Smith kept their shoes off and only wore black socks up to the podium to signify black poverty. Their actions likely brought hope to all those people that were suffering from the inequalities in America. That moment has become a significant moment in the history of the American Civil Rights Movement.

Today, gays, lesbians and their supporters can create these subtle but powerful protests to raise awareness to the inequalities and violence that gay Russians are experiencing. It’s easy to become jaded about the world when we think we’re alone in what we’re fighting for. We can instill a sense of hope and inspiration for the Russian LGBT community. Those olympians that want to make a more visible protest can wear bracelets, or scarves, or whatever creative idea they can come up with to show solidarity with the gay community in Russia, just as Tommie Smith and John Carlos did during the 1968 Olympics. Russians need to be supported and not ignored. We have an obligation to make a statement against the Russian government and any other country that may be considering these sorts of laws. An inevitably unsuccessful boycott would only be turning a blind eye to the Russian atrocities. We have an obligation to rise up and raise awareness for our LGBT brothers and sisters in Russia.

Johnny Weir

NBC Sports has vowed to not push the tragedies that are occurring in Russia under the rug. I hope they stick by their words and use their broadcasts as a springboard to reveal the anti-gay attitude and violence harbored in Russia. To drive home the point I am trying to make here, I yield the floor to Patrick Burke founder of the You Can Play organization.

Patrick Burke

To send the strongest possible message of support to the LGBT community, we must send our athletes — those who are LGBT, those who are LGBT-supportive, those with LGBT family members or friends. Let them show that champions stand strong with their teammates and training partners. Send our openly LGBT and “publicly pro-gay” athletes and let them compete. Let them win. Show the world that there are elite LGBT athletes who are not afraid to be themselves, on and off the playing field. That the majority of the world’s finest athletes support their LGBT teammates, coaches, and opponents by treating them as equals in competition.

Maybe some of the individuals who go will feel compelled to take a stand — for themselves, for their family, for their friends, for the Russian people. Maybe some of those individuals will force the world to witness the strength of diversity and the impact one person can make. Maybe they’ll remind us of the power of pure, unadulterated sport to compel change. We’ll know only if we show up.